The Durty Tri - TriathlonOlympic

I hung back a wee bit at the start which was stupid - had to swim 5m just to cross the start line WTF? (Muppet!) Stayed over on the inside and swam straight - after about 200m someone drifted closer to my line - I caught them up and drafted a wee bit - after the first buouy everyone grouped back together (don't know why everyone else went so far laft to start!) which allowed me to work my way up the pack in and out of drafts. I got to te front of the pack on the 2nd last buouy to discover that there had been a break away and the leaders were bloody miles ahead. I took off to try and hunt them down, but ran out of water! Damn chuffed, none the less!

Start at the front on the inside and go like stink - stop being such a whimp at the start - I CAN OWN THE SWIM (if I stp being an arse!

Seem to be having trouble getting my suit past my elbows this year - every OWS has resulted in me leaping about straight-jacketed - I'm not sure what's changed! Everything else was fine - happy enough!

Body Glide my elbows as well?!

Wouldn't mind trying it on a dry day!

Gonna do a lot more riding (once my back is totally sorted) and weights and own that course next year - not falling off would be nice too! :)

Ran with my shoes on - the dismount line was followed by some really rough tarmac and I was chicken - I don't think it made much difference really - almost everyone did the same.

Need to sort elastic laces on my running shoes- faffing with a double bow was nuts!

Also have a run through of T-time as part of my race prep - for some reason I ended up racking my bike by reversing it in - I should just have lobbed it in as the girl next door did!

Keeping cool Good - it rained most of the time!
Drinking amount - I made sure to finish the bike bottle in T2 and I grabbed a cup of water at the top of the hill - mile4? not really enough, but no cramps or problems, so I'll live!!

Only negative was I had to pause (again!) for a bear in the woods moment (need to take something before a race - this kind of delay is just stupid!)

find a flatter course?!
- need to warm up better - my ankles were pretty sore and I was slow on the downhill especially because of it.
Take some Loperamide before the race starts!

Ate lots - FGS sachet + Honeystinger protein bar - both freebies from previous events - ok, but I wouldn't buy them myself!

Spent a lot of time walking back and forth with gear from transition to the van - apart from that nothing really - will do my hip stretches this evening.


My hip is still sore and because of my recent lay-off, my lead up has not been ideal...


There were some water stations, but really hard to marshall them because of the terrain. It was fine - everyone knows the score - I'd love to repeat it next year...

The only disappointment is a lack of timing mats, so there are no split times or split positions - I'd have loved to know where I was on that swim...